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Join Me:Ten of Swords
This page is about a secret project. If you've found it on your own, you're welcome to view and comment on it. But don't tell anyone else. Thank you. It's... ah... been on hold for a very long time, but we'll see if it takes off any time in the future... Project:Ten of Swords Hello there. This part of the Wiki has nothing directly to do with Join Me. That said, it is in part inspired by people I've been around since Joining, and a trip to Peru that would never have happened if I hadn't Joined (and thank you 'F' for having the idea to raise money for charity through a trek and making me want to help so much I really had to say yes to going myself, or else looking all mouth and no trousers). Of course, talking of saying Yes means I have to say thanks to Danny Wallace for the Yes Man book, which has inspired me to do what I'm about to do. I'm going to try to write a book. The plan I've been putting it off for too long, but this week several 'aquaintances' of mine in the book-writing field have been brought abruptly to my attention. And I guess I should at least try to say Yes to the idea too. They say to write about what you know. I was toying with the idea of a silly boy project. Coincidences used to be my thing, but Danny's done a great job of that himself in Yes Man. So I'm going to turn to one of my other 'talents', that has entertained both friends in London pubs to strangers in Peru. Tarot cards. The idea To be honest I checked my cards when I wanted inspiration for where to go with my 'coincidences' idea. I drew the Ten of Swords, symbolising 'intellect, abstraction, perfection of thought' and being the last of the numbered Sword cards, it represents a sort of completion, a whole idea. The ten swords point upwards, raised to the sky. Unfortunately, the card was 'inverted' (the top edge at the bottom, the image upside down), which represents 'confusion, a flawed vision, distraction by worry or responsibility'. Ten swords hanging downwards, ready to drop, like your fabled sword of Damacles, to the power of ten. Not a good message by any stretch of the imagination, but essentially saying No to my idea, suggesting I needed to re-evaluate it. The next day, Sunday, I drew Temperance, a card of balance, calmness. It shows water being poured from one cup to another by an angelic figure. So I wondered about perhaps writing my fictional story at the same time, itself loosely based on the cards, whilst writing one about my experiences with the tarot cards, balancing two books, using idea from one in the other. To be honest it's a story I think has a bit of mileage - it's got the initial one big idea, with a whole load of character development and intrigue (and pottering about, as all good books have), the only problem being it's been sitting in my head, with a few bits and pieces written on a scrap of paper, for about a year. But it made me think... hey, if I'm writing one card based on the cards, why not use the same idea for the other? Today, Monday 11th July, as I was close to finishing Danny's book, I drew another card, desperately awaiting the go ahead, inspired by Danny's tale and the idea of using the tarot cards to push my idea. There are 78 cards in a pack of tarot cards, so it's unusual to pick the same card too often. Still, I managed to draw the Ten of Swords again. My heart sank. Again? My vision was still flawed! I went away, wondering what the hell I should do now, getting a little miffed, thinking things over. What could I do? What would be similar to 'coincidence' or 'tarot cards', something I knew a lot about? Where would I look for inspiration? Where do you go when you don't know where you're going? Suddenly it dawned on me. Sure, I'd drawn the Ten of Swords again. But I went back and checked. And I smiled. I'd drawn the card the right way up. Not only was it once more suggesting 'perfection of thought' again, it was clearly showing that any 'flawed vision' caused by the card being upside down before were now banished, with things turned back the way they should be for a successful idea. The swords once more pointed skywards. There was my sign. The project I have two angles of attack, because I'm not sure which will be more successful. One is the Story:Anarkana (working title), a fictional story set in the distant future, and which I first started telling some of my close Joinee friends about mid-2004. And the second is Story:TooManyFools (working title, based on the title of my Blog elsewhere), which will simply be my account of referring to the cards every day, until I get bored, have enough stuff put aside for a good story, or die in a tragic accident.